Whitefriargate Bridge and the Victoria Square, Hull.
But when, by the revival of the whale-fishing industry in 1765, the amount of shipping greatly increased, need was felt for more accommodation. An Act of Parliament was therefore obtained in 1774 giving permission to ‘the Dock Company, of Kingston-upon-Hull,’ to make a dock extending from the river Hull to the Beverley Gate along the line of the town moat.[[63]]
The first stone of this dock was laid in the following year, amid scenes of great enthusiasm. Saluted with the firing of nine cannon and accompanied by ‘a large band of music, constables and flags,’ the Mayor and Corporation walked in procession to the Cross Keys, where they had, we read, ‘an excellent dinner.’ Nor did they forget their humbler townsfolk, for the workmen were given ‘fifteen guineas to drink.’
In 1778 the work of building the dock was finished, and Hull had the honour of possessing the first enclosed trading dock in Great Britain. It proved a great success, paying to its 120 shareholders good dividends out of the dues which were collected from the owners of vessels using it.
These varied from two pence per ton for a coasting vessel trading as far north as Holy Island or as far south as Yarmouth, to one shilling and ninepence per ton for vessels trading with Greenland, Africa and America—foreign vessels paying in all cases double dues.
The Dock measured nine acres in water area. In 1809 another dock was built, with an entrance direct from the Humber. This became known as the New Dock, the corresponding adjective ‘Old’ being then applied to the earlier one. In 1829 a Junction Dock was built between the two. The line of the town moat was now entirely replaced with a line of docks.
In 1840 the railway came to Hull. The station was at that time in Kingston Street—on the site of the present Goods Station—and to give greater access to it for ships, the Railway Dock was built off the New Dock.
But the four docks that Hull then possessed proved quite incapable of dealing with the volume of trade to which they gave rise. So new ground was tapped, and in 1850 the Victoria Dock, with a water area of 20 acres, was built. At the same time the names of the three old docks were changed, and became thenceforth the Queen’s Dock, Humber Dock, and Prince’s Dock.
For nineteen years this provision was sufficient. Then there was opened the Albert Dock, four acres larger than the Victoria Dock, and in 1880 and 1883 this was followed by the William Wright Dock[[64]] and the St. Andrew’s Dock.